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How To Upgrade Your Road Fork
A new fork is a sensible upgrade that can improve the performance or reduce the weight of just about any road bike. If you already have a threadless fork installation is not difficult. If you don't have a threadless system you can upgrade to threadless in just a few more steps. Identify what you have:What size is the steerer tube?There are 2 sizes of steerer tube. 1 inch and 1 1/8 inch. Most road bikes produced after 2002 are 1 1/8. If your bike is older than that be sure to measure your steerer tube. Measuring is easily done with a normal ruler, just remove the stem top cap and measure the diameter of the fork steerer tube. Be sure you don't include the stem shim if one is installed. What is the Rake (or offset) of your fork? The rake of your fork effects how your bicycle handles, how much your toe will overlap the front wheel and the length of the wheelbase. Rake can be hard to measure, for best results contact your frame or for manufacturer to confirm what you have. You don't need to install the exact same rake fork so long as you understand what effects will take place. Generally a smaller rake will produce a more stable feel at low speeds, cause more toe overlap and shorten the wheelbase. A larger rake will reduce low speed stability but increase high speed stability, cause less toe overlap and increase the wheelbase. What crown shape do you prefer? Integrated headsets look best with forks with a specially shaped crown for integrated systems. Non-integrated headsets may look best with a more traditionally shaped fork. There are some non integrated headsets that still look good with a crown shaped for integrated forks Choose your new fork:Stock carbon forks on most road bikes will have either a Cro-Mo steel steerer tube or an aluminum alloy steerer tube. Crowns (where the 2 fork blades come together) will usually be aluminum. You can upgrade your bike with a:
To replace your existing threadless fork you will need the following:
A repair manual can help you avoid many common problems during installation. |
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